I'm sorry it's taken me so long to do this...just been very busy for the past month.
For all that have asked..."How do you do this?" Here are step by step instructions of how to remove the dash pad. I've done 3 boxes. On both of mine I used prewired blue and green LED's purchased at Advance Auto. 4 of them are like $8. Pricey, yes but then again these were spur of the moment mods. On the third one we used the 4 chip superflux LED's from Oznium (Pink). Those are mega bright but ended up having to superglue them into place due to the size of them. BTW, superglue will melt the plastic on the LED.
Also this may seem like an involved process but it literally takes less than 30 minutes to do.
First remove the plastic screw from the speedo bezel. Once thats out, gently pull on the bezel to remove it. It just snaps in.
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Once you have the bezel off remove the remaining screws from the Gauge cluster.
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Remove the knobs from the HVAC and take out the screws under the outter knobs.
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Remove the HVAC center trim piece. There are a couple different ways to do this. On some XB's you can pull it out from the bottom and work your way up. On both of mine I have to use a small screwdriver and CAREFULLY separate it from the dash at the top. Sorry...no pic on this part.
Remove the radio. There are 4 screws holding the brackets to the dash. Also remove the 3 silver screws holding the pad to the dash. 1 on each side of radio and one above it.
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Next, using a small screwdriver, GENTLEY pry up the speaker covers on each side of the dash to and remove the 2 screws holding the speakers in place.
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Now it's just a matter of removing the remaining screws on the dash pad. There is one behind each speaker...
Pass. Side
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Driver Side
Center
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Under gauge cluster
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Disconnect the Pass. Side airbag. This connector is also behind the pass. side speaker.
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GENTLY pry out the little square piece above the glove box cubby and remove the bolt behind it. This is the mounting bolt for the airbag.
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Remove the A piller trim pieces on both sides. They just unsnap and pull off. Remove the weather stripping starting towards the bottom of the dash.
*IMPORTANT* DO NOT close the doors with the weatherstrip hanging. Once the dash pad is out you can put the weather strip back in place. It's easily removed again for reinstallation of dash.
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Starting above the glove box, pull out the lip of the dash pad. At this point it is just snapped in. Work your way toward the drivers side
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Once you have it all unsnapped this is what you'll have.
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You can now remove the dash pad from the car. Take care not to lay it down on anything that will scratch or gouge it.
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As far as in mounting your LED's, I'll leave that up to the individual. For power, I tied them into the underdash illumination switch under the console on my BOP. It's a single color and not a problem. The RS4 is a different story as it's got the 10 color underdash illumination and you can't do it the same.. My fiance wanted the LED's to come on with the dash lights so I tied them into the illumination power wire on the HVAC connector. A couple months later and now she's decided that she doesn't like that set up, so I would suggest you run a separate switch and pull power from the cigarette lighter.
PM me with any questions and I'll be happy to help out.
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